What’s New? Friday 3/20/09

Hey developers! We try hard to include at least a couple of games you submit to us in this feature, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Keep ‘em coming!

Conceptually, there’s nothing new about FissionQuest, a puzzle game where you push boxes and barrels around a maze to reach the exit. Hoever, this is a slick 3D implementation that looks great on the iPhone; plus, the addition of depth allows for multi-level puzzles that factor drop heights into the equation. Puzzle fans won’t go wrong for $1.99.

It only took a few months for us to swear off Tower Defense games here at STP, after being bombarded by wave after wave of clones (in true Tower Defense fashion, now that we think about it). geoDefense, though, may be the game that leads to our rapprochement with the genre. The neon Geometry Wars graphics are fun to watch, and some of the new tower mechanics, like the Vortex Node, are brilliant. 99 cents buys you in.

Snowflake! is really a trifle of a game–it only takes about 10 minutes to beat–but its unique control method makes it worth mentioning. As your snowflake drifts along from left to right, gentling blowing into your iPhone’s mic will loft it into the air and over obstacles; if you blow too hard, though, you’ll snuff out the candles that keep the room lit, which temporarily plunges you into darkness. It’s certainly an interesting concept. 99 cents.

Hanto is a deep thinker’s board game–a hexagonal hybrid of Chinese Checkers, Chess, and Reversi. The ancient Japanese theme is lovely, too. We are just scratching the surface of this thing, but we are intrigued. 99 cents.

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Before founding Slide To Play, Steve spent two years as Chief Editor of Wireless Gaming Review and GameSpot Mobile. During that time, he reviewed and previewed hundreds of mobile games from around the world, moderated many important panels at industry events, and administered The Mobies, the first international awards show for mobile games. After leaving GameSpot, he founded an independent consultancy, Foci Mobile, to work with mobile games publishers on design, marketing and localization issues. More recently, he served as Vivendi Games Mobile's Editorial Guru, where he developed new concepts, conducted competitive research, produced several games, and wrote episodes for the award-winning Surviving Hollywood and Surviving High School franchises. Steve holds a BA in History from Dartmouth College, and an MA in International Relations from the University of Chicago. His first computer was a Mac LCIII, and his all-time favorite computer game is Myth, followed closely by Marathon Infinity.

As usual, December was a great month for iOS gamers, with big games dropping every week (at least until the yearly week-long App Store shutdown over Christmas). But one game in particular blew us away with its moody atmosphere and excellent design, so we had to give it this month’s highest honor. The game is The Room Two. (more…)

If you were following us on Twitter last night, you would have seen a series of tweets from an extravagant party in San Francisco thrown by ZeptoLab, the creators of the Cut The Rope series. Between the giant outdoor projectors, costumed detectives, and up-close magic shows, we heard a very important announcement: Cut The Rope 2 will be available on the App Store in two weeks, and we had an early opportunity to try it out. (more…)

Last year’s The Room from Fireproof Games was a smash success, generating over a million paid downloads and earning the honor of Apple’s iPad Game of the Year. It’s an intricate puzzle game, featuring a realistically rendered safe with dozens of clockwork latches and hidden compartments. Next week, Fireproof Games will release The Room 2, and we can tell they’ve taken this compelling concept even further. (more…)

Things are heating up as the year comes to a close. November was a fantastic month for iOS gamers, with a huge number of Must Have titles hitting the App Store. So whether you wanted to build a Death Star or run and jump as Mickey Mouse, the App Store had you covered. But there can be only one Game of the Month, and November’s is Oceanhorn by Cornfox & Bros. (more…)

AppSpy takes a look at AG Drive in their latest video review. Giving it top marks and only dinging it for not having multiplayer. If you like “swooshy swoopy futuristic racers” this one might be the one.